You're right in much of what you say, Guest. Yes, land was held by strength. Yes, they thought they were the toughest fighters around.

However, I think they knew very well that they were doomed, once the Mexican army had the place surrounded. Santa Ana had made it clear that they would be offered no mercy. He had the numbers to overwhelm the defenses. The Texicans did not have enough men to prevent the walls from being taken. The final letters sent out by Travis and other men at the Alamo make it quite clear that they did not expect to survive the final battle, but were resolved to die fighting.

Those men, as you suggest, were experienced frontier fighters. They knew when you can expect to survive and when you can't. This was a case where the chances of survival were nil, and I think they knew it.

The recent movie shows this quite poignantly, particulary in the tired eyes of David Crockett. He looks around at the walls, looks out at the Mexican army marching in...

"We're gonna need more men. We're gonna need a lot more men."

He knew what the odds were.